Draft Pick Tracker – March 20th, 2017

We’ll start off with a table at the top summarizing the status of the three picks, then we’ll list out last night’s games and whether their results were good or bad for the Sixers draft pick positioning, and follow that up with tonight’s games and who you should root for. Finally, we’ll have some tables at the bottom providing some additional details on the various draft picks, including odds that the Lakers pick conveys at each position.

(In parenthesis will be whether the outcome is good or bad for that pick, if it happened last night, and who to cheer for if the game takes place tonight).

2017 Draft Pick Tracker – Summary

Pick

Place

GB (from 2nd)

Games Left

Notes

Lakers

2nd

—

12

44.2% chance at conveying

Sixers

5th

6.5

13

88 lottery combinations

Kings

6th

7.0

12

63 lottery combinations

Friday’s results:

Milwaukee beat LAL (bad): The Lakers will have the 2nd worst record. I’m about to stop even tracking it.

Miami beat Minnesota (bad): Minnesota is still only a win up over Sacramento at this point.

New Orleans beat Houston (good): New Orleans’ weekend has them 2 wins up on Sacramento, which helps separate them from what was a three-team tie for the 6th worst record at one point.

Dallas beat Brooklyn (good): Dallas is now 3 wins up on the Kings, which should be too much to overcome.

Detroit beat Phoenix (good): Phoenix has lost 4 in a row to remain just 2 wins up on the Lakers, but time is running out and the Lakers have no incentive to try.

Cleveland beat LAL (bad): LA has now lost 5 in a row and is 1-9 in their last 10.

New Orleans beat Minnesota (good): This was a good/good result, as the winner of this game improved to 29 wins, 2 more than Sacramento. With the way Minnesota’s been playing of late, or at least prior to this weekend, they should be able to finish with a better record than the Kings.

Philadelphia beat Boston (bad): What? Great game to watch, and the Sixers are still slotted in with the 5th worst record.

San Antonio beat Sacramento (good): Sacramento’s 2 game losing streak has them alone with the 6th worst record, a half game behind the Knicks.

Tonight’s games:

Atlanta @ Charlotte (go Charlotte): Charlotte’s 3 wins up on the Kings and this shouldn’t matter, but another game wouldn’t hurt.

NYK @ LAC (go Knicks): The Knicks are a team to keep your eye on, as they’re tied with the Kings at 27 wins and are just 3-7 in their last 10. The Clips have lost 3 of their last 4, but even so this would be surprising if the Knicks can pull this out.

Sixers @ Orlando (go Magic): This is a huge game. You hate to root against the Sixers considering how well they’ve been playing of late, but a loss would tie Orlando in the win column with 12 left to play. Orlando jumping the Sixers would improve the Sixers’ odds at the #1 pick by 3.1% and at a top-3 pick by 7.3%.

Current combined odds for Sixers/Kings pick swap:

#1 pick: 15.1% (+2.7% change since Friday morning)

Top-3 pick: 46.5% (+7% change since Friday morning)

Two top-5 picks: 30.9% (+3.6% change since Friday morning)

Lakers Pick (currently 2nd):

Lakers draft pick – Current Status:

Team

Place

Record

GB (from LAL)

Games Left

Last 10

Nets

1st

13-56

-6.5

13

3-7

Lakers

2nd

20-50

—

12

1-9

Suns

3rd

22-48

+2.0

12

4-6

Magic

4th

25-45

+5.0

12

3-7

(Where the Lakers currently are in the standings)

Lakers Draft Pick Matrix:

Finishes

1-3 pick

4th

5th

6th

7th

8th

Worst record

64.3%

35.7%

0.0%

0.0%

0.0%

0.0%

2nd worst

55.8%

31.9%

12.3%

0.0%

0.0%

0.0%

3rd

46.9%

22.6%

26.5%

4.0%

0.0%

0.0%

4th

37.8%

9.9%

35.0%

16.1%

1.3%

0.0%

5th

29.1%

0.0%

26.1%

35.9%

8.4%

0.4%

What odds the Lakers have of getting each pick (columns) depending on where they finish in the standings (rows). In red means the Sixers would not get the pick. The row in bold is where the Lakers are if the season finished today. All odds assume no ties in the final standings).

Sixers/Kings Pick (currently 5th/6th):

Team

Place

Record

GB (Sixers)

Games Left

Last 10

Lotto combinations

Magic

4th

25-45

+1.5

12

3-7

119

Sixers

5th

26-43

—

13

4-6

88

Kings

6th

27-43

+0.5

12

2-8

63

Knicks

7th

27-42

+1.0

13

3-7

43

Wolves

8th

28-41

+2.0

13

5-5

28

Pelicans

9th

29-41

+2.5

12

6-4

17

Hornets

t10th

30-39

+4.0

13

5-5

11

(How the Sixers and Kings fit into the standings. Lottery ball combinations based on if the season ended today.)

Derek Bodner is a credentialed reporter covering the Philadelphia 76ers independently for DerekBodner.com. He is also a college basketball scout for DraftExpress.com, and an NBA contributor for The Ringer.
Contact Information: derek.bodner@draftexpress.com / @DerekBodnerNBA